There are two things you should know about me: I love data and I’m hard on watches. It’s a running joke in my family that I pore over biometric information on my smartwatches, analyzing sleep scores and calculating my vertical gain every time I go on a hike or bike. But watches also have to be durable to keep up with my lifestyle. To date, I’ve shattered two Apple watches and drowned a third.
So, it comes as no surprise that I trend toward rugged adventure watches designed for multiday backcountry adventures. For the past few months, I’ve been testing the Suunto Vertical Titanium Solar, the Finnish brand’s latest watch offering designed to do everything any human would want a watch to do. I’m familiar with Suunto watches, having tested both the (now defunct) Suunto Ambit3 Peak and the Suunto 7, and I’m happy to report that the Vertical is a welcome return to Suunto’s adventurous roots. The solar charging makes for best-in-class battery life, the free downloadable maps are easy and intuitive and you can track any workout you’ll ever consider trying. The watch even looks good, which isn’t something I can say about other expedition watches on the market.
Is the Suunto Vertical perfect? Not quite, but it’s darn close. Here’s what I learned during testing.
With sleek styling, a crystal-clear screen and accurate dual-band GPS navigation with free outdoor offline maps, the Suunto Vertical Titanium Solar may be the last adventure watch you ever need. It’s rugged enough for those scaling rock faces but stylish enough that it looks good at a Friday night dinner.
What we liked about it
Suunto was founded in 1936, so the company has had a lot of time to figure out what makes a watch tick. It took those decades of experience and created a durable yet useful expedition watch with amazing battery life and modern styling. If you’re graduating from an Apple watch, the Vertical’s bright screen and sleek user interface may be the closest experience you’ll find in an adventure watch.
Brilliant battery life
When wearing adventure watches, battery life can be a deal breaker. As a former ultrarunner and current backpacker or bikepacker, I need a watch that can operate and track my workout for hours at a time and days in a row. I don’t mind charging it once on a week-long trip, but any more than that gets bothersome. Fortunately, the Suunto Vertical Titanium Solar has the best battery I’ve yet to encounter. It comes with four battery modes: Performance, Endurance, Ultra and Tour. (You can even create a custom battery mode if you have something particular in mind.) Depending on which battery mode you toggle the watch to, Suunto claims you’ll get anywhere from 60 to 500 hours of battery life while operating in GPS mode — and even more than that if you’re just running it standard.
The best part: I think Suunto undersold that claim. I wore the watch around the clock, tracking my sleep at night and my workouts during the day, and I rarely charged it more than once every 2.5 weeks. It’s tough to tell how much the solar charging helps with that, but the fun bar graph makes it easy to see when your glass is soaking up the rays. Bottom line: This battery life cannot be beat.
Never get lost with Vertical mapping
Even though I test quite a few gadgets, I’m not a techie. If something is complicated to set up or requires a lot of instructions to follow, I’m likely to throw it behind the couch and forget about it. But the downloadable maps on the Suunto Vertical are intuitive and easy to figure out. Almost immediately, I was able to download a map of the state of Colorado where I live. It took a bit of time — at least 10 minutes — but it was simple and instinctual. The best part was … it actually works.
I used these maps on at least a dozen hikes throughout Colorado’s Elk Range and was always stoked with their accuracy. The Vertical uses dual-band GNSS satellites, which are known to be the most accurate. The navigation moved with me in real time and was always accurate, adjusting as needed and reorienting based on where my body was going. I even noticed the watch would beep when I returned to my car, notifying me that I was back where my route began.
It looks darn good
Function matters more than aesthetics, but it’s important for a watch to look good. Historically, expedition watches have been clunkier and heavier, thanks to all of the tech on board. But thankfully, times are changing. The Vertical features a 49-millimeter screen that is on the larger side compared to other watches but looks at home on most wrists. The rubberized band fits comfortably and is available in a number of colors, should you need to dress for the occasion.
What we didn’t like about it
If you’re already a diehard fan of Suunto watches, you’re going to be thrilled with the Vertical. But if you’re coming from Apple or Garmin watches, there are a couple of nitpicky factors to consider.
You can’t jam to music (unless you bring your phone)
The most obvious drawback to the Vertical is that you can’t download music to the watch. A lot of other do-it-all expedition watches include this feature, so it’s a bummer that it’s not an option on the Vertical. I spend most of my time in places without cell service, so I still need to lug my phone along with my downloaded music and podcasts. Is it a deal breaker? Not really. But for those outdoor enthusiasts who like to go light and fast, it’s something to consider.
Large watch face
Let me be clear: All expedition watches are big and chunky. But the Vertical is only available in one size, 49 millimeters (1.4 inches), which can feel large, especially on a woman’s wrist. It’s also thicker than a lot of its competitors, so it sits farther out from your body. This makes it feel slightly top-heavy if you’re doing something energetic with your arms, and I suspect long-distance runners may notice the mild heft.
You can’t go back
One of my biggest struggles with the Vertical was the lack of a dedicated “back” button. The Vertical works via buttons along the side or via the touchscreen, but I tend to use buttons more frequently. For some reason, there isn’t one dedicated to going back one screen. This means you’re stuck scrolling through menu options that aren’t in a loop, and I found myself frequently swiping just to get back to my home screen.
How it compares
At this price point, folks have some options. The Vertical’s main competitor is the Garmin Fenix 7, Garmin’s beast mode of a do-it-all-watch. The Fenix ranges in price from roughly $700 to $1000, but it also offers more watch face sizes. And, the Fenix does allow users to play music directly from their watch, which is an upgrade.
The Apple Watch Ultra is another competitor, albeit in a slightly different class. In terms of functionality, the Apple Watch can do everything the Vertical can … and it plays music too. However, the battery life on the Ultra is nowhere near that of the Vertical. If you spend long hours on the trail or multiple nights at camp, you’re definitely going to prefer the Suunto.
Finally, folks who don’t care about solar charging should definitely take a gander at the Suunto Vertical with stainless steel instead of titanium. While I’m a big fan of the solar charging and believe it adds a lot of battery life, it also increases the price by $200. If you can live without it, you’ll save a lot of money and get the same functionality.
Bottom line
If you’re an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys Type II fun, slog fests in the mountains and general multinight adventures, I think you’ll be happy with the Suunto Vertical. If you can cope without the music, the downloadable maps and GPS features are really useful, especially if you’re someone who likes to know exactly where you’re going at all times. And if you’re as bad at charging your watch as I am, the Vertical is a no-brainer.
